The value of information resources in sustaining SMME Projects in Limpopo Province

Abstract

Information is crucial for improvement of the lives of any nation and has no substitute when it comes to the development because it has been identified as the driver of economic growth and productivity. There has been an acknowledgement from government that the previous regime government neglected the potential contribution of the SMMEs towards economic growth and job creation. South Africa continues to struggle with the sustainability of SMMEs. Most of these SMMEs are found in rural area of Limpopo and in agriculture and in health. Most of the SMME projects cover rural communities in Africa where the projects do not survive due to lack of relevant information. The information needs of SMME project owners vary. Therefore, such needs should be identified and matched with the resources. SMMEs may need information on how to run projects, the cost of project and know other project owners doing similar business. For example, those who are involved in the production or selling of goods would like to know where to products/good at a cheaper price, where to market them, and find customers for the products or goods. Project owners get information from different information centres. The majority of SMMEs have failed to grow or rather, more seriously, they have failed to survive. The failure is sometimes associated to a lack of access to information largely due to the fact that information is still not seen as an important as other natural resources by planners, developers and governments. There are SMMEs that do not consider the information as the important resource that would enable them to develop and sustain their projects. There are different types of SMMEs depending on the nature of their daily operations, the market they are in, and how they are organised and managed, agricultural farming, poultry farming, but they all need information. SMMEs need access to timely and relevant information. This paper seeks to establish the value of information resources to SMMEs. Thus the paper will assist to, identify information needs of SMMEs, improving access to information and improving provision of quality information to these owners. Lastly, the authors of this paper suggest solutions on the lack of access to relevant information questions so as to improve sustainability of the SMMEs in Limpopo Province.